Branson, Missouri, the Ozark Mountain mecca of wholesome entertainment, has been home to countless stage shows espousing patriotism and Christianity, welcoming over ten million visitors a year. Some consider it “God’s Country” and others “as close to Hell as anything on Earth.” For Joanna Dee Das, Branson is a political, religious, and cultural harbinger of a certain enduring dream of what America is. She takes Branson more seriously than the light-hearted fun it advertises—and maybe we should too.
For Das, Branson’s performers offer visions of the American Dream that embody a set of values known as the three Fs: faith, family and flag. Branson boosters insist that these are universal values that welcome all people; the city aims to capture as many tourists as possible. But over the past several decades, faith, family and flag have become markers of contemporary conservatism. The shows and culture of Branson, for all their fun and laughter, have been a galvanizing political force for white, working-and-middle class, Christian Americans. For social and economic conservatives alike, Branson is practically proof-of-concept for America as they want it to be.
Faith, Family and Flag is a comprehensive history of the Branson entertainment industry, within the context of America’s long culture wars. Das reveals how and why a town known for popular entertainment, a domain associated most often with the political left (“Hollywood liberals”), came to be so important to the political right and its vision for America.
Reviews
“Das peels back the layers of the Branson entertainment scene to reveal a complexity that most of us, regardless of political persuasion, would not expect to encounter. Timely and personal, yet scholarly and balanced, Faith, Family and Flag is essential reading for understanding the Branson phenomenon and the nation’s love-hate relationship with it.” — Brook Blevins, author of A History of the Ozarks
“Branson has always been derided as a place where entertainers past their peak go to die, but Das shows that this strange nexus of can-do capitalism and left-field showbiz is deeply rooted in the American psyche. Full of forgotten characters straight from Mark Twain, Faith, Family and Flag is an entertaining and informative dive into a rare pocket of America where people with contradicting values and biographies learn to live together.” — Mark Guarino, author of Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival
About the author
Joanna Dee Das is associate professor of performing arts in Arts & Sciences, as well an affiliate of American Culture Studies, African and African-American Studies and History in Arts & Sciences. She writes about dance, musical theater, variety entertainment, country music and how those cultural forms have played a role in several social and political movements, including the long Black Freedom Struggle, decolonization, modern conservatism and the Religious Right. She is also the author of Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora (2017).